This invention relates to improvements in word processor operability.
The so-called column layout function is one of the editing functions of a word processor. This function may be used to modify the normal document format in which character information is sequentially outputted sideways from the left-hand of the top line of a page until its entire width is covered and then to the next line, ending at the right-hand edge of the bottom line as shown in FIG. 4a, into an edited document format, which may be easier to read, by dividing the page into two blocks, one on the left-hand side and the other on the right-hand side as shown, for example, in FIG. 4b which illustrates the situation where this function has been used regarding blocks B and C.
According to the conventional column layout method, character information is sequentially outputted in the order of blocks A, B and C. If the length of a sentence is changed by modification, insertion or deletion, therefore, the end of the sentence may move into a different block. It generally required a complicated operation to establish a correlation between sentences and blocks.
The so-called Search and Replace is another editing function which is used for retrieving a particular character string, etc. within a specified region in a sentence and to replace it by another character string. Conventionally, the following two methods of Search and Replace were available:
(a) method of asking the operator to input an instruction whenever the specified character string is detected, and PA0 (b) method of performing all processing at once by initially specifying a region in which the Search and Replace is to be effected.
The method (b) is convenient because the processing can be effected efficiently. The method of specifying a page or pages to be processed (b-1), the method of using the cursor to specify the beginning and end points of the region of interest (b-2), the method of specifying the frequency of processing (b-3), the method of processing the sentence file (b-4) till its end, etc. have been used.
When a modification, addition or deletion process is effected to a sentence under consideration, a character information which originally could fit within one page may no longer be able to do so or another character information which originally covered two pages may come to fit in one page. If the format is changed such as the paper size, character interval or line interval, the number of pages may also change.
Accordingly, it is a difficult matter to specify the beginning and final pages. In the case of the method (b-1), it is necessary to first output the document into a display means in order to ascertain the positions. Thus, the processes effectively become as troublesome as the method (b-2) of specifying positions by a cursor. The method (b-3) of specifying the frequency of processing cannot be used if it is completely unknown at the beginning how many times the specified character string or word will appear within the given region.
The Go To and Find (or Search) are functions by means of which the operator can move the cursor to a desired position. Since the parameter to be inputted for these functions is generally a page information, the situation is similar to that of the Search and Replace function discussed above and it is rare that the desired page can be referenced by the first try. Even if the desired page has been retrieved, furthermore, the cursor is found at the top of the page and the user must move the cursor further to the desired position. If the Find function is used, on the other hand, the cursor may detect a character string which happens to coincide with the specified character string and stop there.
The Move, Copy and Delete functions are also well known, but they, too, frequently effect position specification and region specification like the Search and Replace function and the Go To function. Thus, it is no less troublesome to operate these functions when there are many pages to be considered.
It is also necessary to specify a region by its page number in the case of an automatic operation whereby a plurality of processes are arranged to be carried out by a one-touch operation and the region intended by the operator cannot always be specified reliably. In summary, there has been known no simple operation for specifying a region and a considerable amount of work had to be carried out before performing various kinds of operations in a specified region.